My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 311 Explained
"Is there really no other way?"

Yuan Zonggao sighed.

He looked at the respected old chief minister of the empire in front of him.

In fact, the imperial bureaucracy was not averse to force.

In fact, squeezing out the military nobles and suppressing the generals was one of the manifestations of their attempt to wrest the imperial force away from the ancient armed groups that established the empire.

These imperial bureaucrats, who were familiar with the scriptures, had a good understanding of history, and overcame the shackles of many imperial examinations. They stepped on the bones of countless scholars to enter the temple and discuss the national military plan. They were not fools.

Not only are many of them not the military-ignorant nerds that many imagine they are.

Many of them have personally commanded large armies in battle, quelled bandits and bandits, and rebelled against foreign enemies.

They are well aware of the power of force.

Only violence and etiquette can maintain the rule of this empire.

The only thing they hate is that it is in the hands of military families and generals from all over the country, in the hands of noble warlords who think they are relying on the grace of their ancestors and self-righteousness, and in the hands of the central government, the most powerful bureaucracy in the empire. force.

This is why the civil servants of the empire, behind the Tumu Fort, never tire of launching internal struggles that spread from the central Beijing army to the local guards.

In the capital, the imperial bureaucracy and the cabinet cooperated tacitly. By abolishing the three battalions that were controlled by the nobles in the past, reorganizing the ten regiments, and deliberately delaying the issuance of the edict for the nobles to inherit the title, the military commanders who suffered heavy losses after Tumu Fort were Your group has completely fallen into the abyss.

He also abolished the martial arts in Beijing and curbed martial arts. By joining forces with his relatives, he increased the power of the civil servants in charge of the Beijing army, and firmly controlled the Beijing army in his own hands.

At the local level, the imperial bureaucrats began to strictly implement the empire's beheading and merit-recording policy by managing military depots, constantly enhancing the rights of the military censors stationed in various places, and step by step tightening the chains around the necks of the military and garrison stations in various places.

And formed an alliance with the wealthy families in the military household.

Those imperial bureaucrats who entered the court through the imperial examinations through the health studies in the guard system were given preferential treatment. In order to ensure control of the various guard military towns, the imperial bureaucrats maintained great respect for these colleagues who came from military households. tolerate.

The position of "counselor for military affairs" in various health offices was also created.

If the descendants of wealthy families outside the Weisuo system cannot pass the normal imperial examinations and enter official careers, as long as they have some merit and fame, they can be recommended by the Weisuo wealthy families and local military and political chiefs.In the name of "counselor for military affairs", he held an official position within the guard system.

Under the exchange of central and local interests, this kind of behavior of the wealthy Confucian scholars supporting each other and making concerted efforts to attack the hereditary generals, although to a large extent, ensured the imperial bureaucrats' full control of the Ming court's armed forces.

But the same applies to the behavior of imperial wealthy families controlling military and political power.

It also naturally caused dissatisfaction among many forces, including the imperial power.

There were endless mutinies in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The powerful forces in the local army always killed the imperial censors sent by the imperial court, and then occupied the city and sent envoys to try to negotiate with the imperial court. Then the Ming court reacted quickly and mobilized from all over the place. The counter-rebellion troops brutally suppressed the rebellion.

Such a sharp contradiction.

This led to the Ming military group's negative attitude towards foreign enemies.

So much so that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, they faced intrusions from the Mongols in the north and the Jurchens from the Northeast.

The Ming army would rather sit back and watch the Tatar cavalry plunder villages and towns wantonly than go out of the city to fight.

If you win, it's not your own fault; if you lose, you'll take the blame.

Once he accidentally dies in battle, the whole family will not have any protection, and they will not even be able to inherit their title... The court will not even be able to pay them food and salary, let alone pensions.

Whoever wants to fight can be beaten. As long as the Mongolians don’t hit me, I will pretend they are invisible.In addition to passively avoiding war, the conflicts between the local Ming army and the civilian officials sent by the central court were also acute.

In order to control the local armies, the central government had to continue to strengthen its control over the local areas. The local armies that suffered more restrictions and punishments became even more angry and resisted stronger. The governors sent by the central empire to the local areas had higher positions... In such a vicious cycle, in the end, the warlords and local factions directly clashed, often ending in the victory of the warlords who had the privileges of the king's flag and the imperial court.

However, this does not mean that the central court of the Ming Dynasty won the victory over the local areas. The cost of direct conflict and ending in killings was that the local armed groups were completely disillusioned with the last bit of the central court's illusions.

When the empire came to an end, the elite border troops from all over the empire were organized into military towns in large numbers without any psychological burden to join the empire's anti-thief groups or the barbarian forces that invaded the Central Plains.

He began to plunder and fight for the remaining flesh and blood on the corpses of the central court like a mad dog, and he did not mind fighting with his former colleagues in order to get one more bite.

Zhu Houcong read part of the history of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life.

Although he didn't study it in detail, he still knew something about the general context.

He knew the greed of the imperial bureaucracy and the embarrassing situation of the Ming Dynasty general group.

The establishment of vassal kings was to meet the need for the empire to continue to expand outward and extend the buffer zone to protect the core of the empire.

It is also to ease internal conflicts.

Although with the victory of the Southwest Victory and the Eastern Expedition, the general group seems to have begun to rise again.

But Zhu Houcong knew that even if the status of generals was restored to the Hongwu period.

In front of the imperial bureaucracy with a profound folk foundation and the imperial examination system as its core.

As time went on and the war ended, their decline was almost inevitable.

All prosperity is short-lived.

After all, the empire will eventually enter a heyday when all the barbarians are in uniform, all nations come to court, and the borders are peaceful.

It would be a bit too miserable if people had to fight every day and die because of wasting money and people, let alone the prosperous times, and people had not even enjoyed the peaceful world of ZTE.

So...believe in the wisdom of the ancients!

Restore weekly rituals!

Liang Chu and Yuan Zonggao looked at each other, smiled bitterly and shook their heads.

Obviously, both of them now know that they have no means to stop the Ming emperor who has made up his mind to establish a vassal barrier in the four borders.

"The emperor's worries will last forever. All we need to do is listen to the holy teachings and act according to the instructions..."

Liang Chu's answer was weak and frustrating.

Yuan Zonggao heard this answer from even this highly respected veteran of the Four Dynasties.

He could only sigh three times, as if he had witnessed with his own eyes that the entire system had fallen into complete decline with the departure of the emperor.

The powerful court and huge bureaucracy that the civil servants longed to establish would completely come to nothing under the threat of kings with powerful soldiers.

My wise and wise sage king and father!What on earth do you want to do!
(End of this chapter)